


Memories

by TwinAngel01



Category: Villainous (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Past Memories, a request from a friend on tumblr, and Black Hat fights heroes, first chapter fic i actually finished, forgot to mention a bit of depression issues to, lizardhat - Freeform, mentions of child abuse, slowly forming relationship between a demon and a lizard girl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-10-08 02:50:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17378198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwinAngel01/pseuds/TwinAngel01
Summary: All Demencia ever wanted was to be loved by her employer and the greatest villain of all time, Black Hat. But when her memories of the past return to haunt her, all she wants is to get away from the abusive demon. It takes a battle with heroes and time apart from Demencia to stir up feelings within the cold heart of the eldritch being. But will this heal the scars of her past for good?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A request on Tumblr by Demmylizard. You can only find the story here now though since I deleted my account. This is the first time I have ever wrote and finished a chapter fanfiction, even if it is a short one. I've been inactive for a long time (another reason for that is because I forgot my password), so I hope you all enjoy this and that it will make up for the last story I didn't finish!

Everything went dark. Not just the screen that she had been looking out of, but everything around her suddenly disappeared. The creepy well behind her, the dismal forest surrounding her, all disappeared. All noises ceased. She herself was no longer there. One minute Demencia was sitting on the couch in the manor, watching this cursed video Black Hat had demanded she watch. The thought of it being cursed didn’t phase her. Instead it intrigued her. The frightening images didn’t scare her. On the contrary they made her swoon, for the creature being shown in the video was her boss and the love of her life, Black Hat. As soon as his image, though warped into a monster, appeared close to the screen, she squealed with joy. Hearts danced in her eyes as she threw herself towards the tv and kissed the image of the demon’s face. This was the closest she had ever gotten to actually kissing him, besides the puppet and photos she had. However, the happiness of the kiss didn’t last long. When she opened her eyes, she gasped. Her eyes grew wide in confusion and shock. The television screen no longer showed the cursed video she had been watching. Instead she looked into the living room she had just been in seconds ago, all her snacks littering the table and the bowl of popcorn with her Black Hat puppet now lying on the floor. And sitting on the couch that she had just been on was the eldritch being himself, Black Hat.

She couldn’t think of how to process this. Her eyes quickly scanned the scenery around her, making sure she really was where she thought she was. All around her was the spooky forest that she had seen on the video, gray, bleak, withered trees and whistling wind. And behind her the haunted well, now devote of any monsters. Surprisingly she didn’t feel frightened or worried. The only thing she felt was confusion for how she had gotten here. Though judging by the gleeful and malicious smile on Black Hat’s face, she had a clue. Any thoughts that been racing in her head escaped quickly when she saw her boss lift the remote plainly in front of her view. Fear filled her core. Black Hat wouldn’t do this to her. Would he? She knew he hurt her a lot, but she assumed it was his way of “playing hard to get”. This just seemed to be taking it too far for her comfort. What would happen when he pressed that button? She really didn’t want to know. He placed his thumb on the off button. Her heart started to race.

“No sweetheart, ghost of my passions! Come back!” This didn’t stop him. She managed to get out one abrupt scream before he pressed the off button, turning off the television. And her with it. He chuckled lowly to himself, enjoying the taste of fear he had just witnessed in her. How he reveled in others fears and miseries! And Demencia was no exception. When he was through, he set the remote back down on the messy table and got up. So concluded another Black Hat Challenge. He was about to walk out of the room when he felt a soft lump under his shoe. Looking down, he discovered it was the puppet she had created of him. And there was drool coming out of its mouth.

“Disgusting,” he muttered. With a snap of his fingers, the puppet magically caught on fire, quickly withering away to nothing. A sigh escaped his lips as he snapped his fingers again, causing the rest of Demencia’s mess to disappear into thin air. He couldn’t stand that girl. Her crazy antics, how she left messes all over the house, her desire to be as loud and destructive as possible around the manor. He especially couldn’t stand her conquest for his love. As if he even had a heart! Some days he wondered why he even kept her around. But he knew why, and it certainly wasn’t to be wooed by her obnoxiousness. He knew he’d have to get her out of the tv eventually, but for now he could just walk back to his office and resume his paperwork and consultation sessions for the rest of the afternoon without being bothered by her.

* * *

  
The world behind the screen ceased to exist. She ceased to exist. The feeling was incredibly surreal to her. Considering she couldn’t feel at all. She tried to look around her, but everything was a deep, inky black. She couldn’t even feel her head move! She attempted to wave a hand in front of her face. If she was moving her hand, she couldn’t feel or see it. Trying to scream did her no go either as she couldn’t hear herself or even feel the vocal cords in her throat move. Her whole body seemed to be lucid, as if her mind weren’t connected to anything but the space around her. Perhaps it was. Her mind was still conscious in this space as she was aware that she was still in it and could still think. How long had she even been there? All perception of time seemed to have vanished as well. Had it only been a few minutes? Hours? What if it had been days? She couldn’t be quite sure if any time had passed at all. Was Black Hat even going to let her out? The thought would have made her shudder if she could. Despite all the beatings and torture she had received from Black Hat, the punishments and ridicule she had received from Flug, this was somehow worse. To not be able to feel a thing, to have no body as if she were a ghost was the worst thing she had ever experienced.

But Black Hat would release her eventually. She was sure of it! After all, he did love her. Didn’t he? Why else would he constantly be messing with her?

Through the darkness then, quite suddenly like a match being struck, a spotlight shown a few feet away from her. The light seemed so welcoming and inviting in the dead darkness. She tried to move towards it, but she couldn’t. She no longer had legs to walk with. Suddenly, resounding through the empty space, came the sound of tiny footsteps, soft and quick. Out of the darkness, a little girl appeared in the spotlight, breathing hard as if she were out of breath. She couldn’t have been more than seven years old given her short stature. Long pink hair trailed to the middle of her back tied in a red scrunchy. The green tank top and black shorts she wore were mud covered and torn, as well as her tennis shoes which were caked in dirt. Her arms and legs were covered in colorful band aids and purple bruises. A gauze was wrapped around her neck. But the one thing about the girl that really stood out to Demencia was that her whole body was shaking as she heaved in breath after breath of air. Her eyes were glazed with fear.

“Mariana!” The girl jumped at the sound of the stern man’s voice, crumpling into a ball on the floor almost immediately. “Mariana!” A tall, stout man stepped into the spotlight with the little girl. He looked to be in his 30s, and quite muscular despite his weight. He had a wild look in his eyes and an unpredictable demeanor. A leather belt was held tightly in his fist. As strange as it was, despite not being able to move, Demecia found that she could smell, and the one scent to hit her was alcohol. The man stepped towards the little girl, apparently known as Mariana, glaring down at her with a burning fire in his eyes. Tears begin to stream down her face as his shadow covered her tiny body. “What have your mother and I told you about curfew?” Unable to speak, she only shook her head, sobbing even more. The man, seeming to be her father, quickly snatched up her arm and yanked her to her feet. “Listen when I talk to you! What have we said about curfew? Especially when you have chores to do?”

She held her head down low, her body quaking all over. “I...I’m sorry. I just….just wanted to pl..play with the other k...kids.” She peered up a little at her father’s face. “I don’t g...get to play m..much.” Something about the child seemed very familiar to Demencia, as if she had seen her from somewhere before. She could have sworn she had seen the father before to. The whole scene before her eyes seemed sickenly familiar to her. No matter how hard she tried though she couldn’t get herself to remember where she had seen all this before. A loud thud echoed into the darkness as the child was suddenly thrust to the floor, a couple snaps from her arm being heard as well. Although Demencia couldn’t feel it, she imagined she was wincing as she watched the girl cradle her broken arm, screaming from the pain. Her father raised the belt over his head. His body had relaxed tremendously as he held the belt in position. His demeanor felt much too calm.

“You should know better than to disobey me.” He brought the belt down upon her. The slap of the leather was horribly loud against Mariana’s skin. Each strike left a large red welt. Some torn the skin, allowing fresh blood to well up from the wounds. The screams of the girl were agonizing to listen to, the sound made more intense as the high-pitched screams resounded in the blackness surrounding them. Demencia couldn’t take it anymore and she tried to lunge at the man. But she forgot she couldn’t move. Not one muscle existed in this void. Feeling hopeless for the child, she could only watch as the father beat his child to a near bloody pulp. But she could still feel the anger inside her. She couldn’t understand it. Why did she feel such sympathy for this kid? She herself had tortured many people before, enjoying the pain she brought and the screams she caused. A child had never made a difference to her before. This, however, was different, even if it wasn’t real. She felt a strong connection to Mariana. She peered more closely at the child on the floor. Through all the bruises and blood, she noticed something about the child she hadn’t paid attention to before. With the pink hair and mismatched eyes, she bore a striking resemblance to herself. And that’s when it dawned on her.

Suddenly the spotlight went out, plunging her back into darkness. She could still hear the terrible sounds, but they were quickly fading away into silence once more. The sounds were replaced by another voice. It was so distant and soft she couldn’t make out what it was saying. But it did seem oddly familiar to her, and annoying to. She couldn’t focus on it though as she felt herself become dizzy. Consciousness was slowly ebbing away, as she felt herself falling backwards despite not having a body. Before she fully lost consciousness, a realization struck her.

That little girl was her.

* * *

All she felt when she woke up was pain. Her head was pounding, feeling as though she smacked it against a table too many times. Which she had done before. She tried to sit up, but found that she couldn’t move her limbs. She could feel her body again, but something was keeping her down, and no matter how much she tried to lift herself up her body could not do as commanded. Shrugging it off, she tried to fall back asleep, hoping it would get rid of her headache.

Her eyes flew open suddenly as she gasped and tried to sit up, only finding once again that something was restricting her. “Wait! Whaaaa…?” She found that she was lying on a bed, a rather messy one at that. Clothes were thrown about it, an assortment of lizard plushies were gathered around her head, and the pink, green, and black bed sheets looked like they hadn’t been made or washed in days. Binding her to the bed was a thick, metal cord, one that she could surprisingly not break. Eyes quickly scanning the room, she took in her surrounding. Red walls with posters of Black Hat covering almost every inch, trash, clothes, and more lizards strewn about, a moderately nice looking wooden vanity, and a wardrobe with more clothes falling out of it. Demencia could have almost laughed to herself. She was in her bedroom. But how she had gotten there, and why she was tied to the bed, she could not remember.

Footsteps could be heard in the hallway outside her door. She raised her head, although the movement made her feel incredibly dizzy, to get a view of who was walking by. In through the door appeared 5.0.5 in his maid outfit, carrying with him a bottle of medicine and a cup of tea, and behind him entered Dr. Flug. Even though he wore a paper bag over his head, she could tell that he did not look pleased. “You’re awake now I see,” he said, stopping momentarily at the foot of the bed. “How unfortunate.” He motioned 5.0.5 over to him, in which he happily handed him the medicine and cup of tea. Demencia watched him closely as he moved to the side of the bed near her head. As he poured some of the bottles contents into the cup, he looked down at her, almost smiling even under his bag. “Did you enjoy your experience?” Sarcasm dripped from his mouth like venom. She could only give him a blank stare in return. What was he talking about? “Demencia? Did the tv scramble your brain? I mean, more than it already is.”

If she could have lunged at him she would have. “Will ya just tell me what’s going on?!” She furthermore tried to struggle against the rope binding her to her bed. “And untie me!” Her struggles ceased as 5.0.5 laid his heavy paws on top of her, holding her still. One of them reached up and stroked her aching head, causing her to relax against the half-torn pillow under her. She was about to question Flug once more, when the cup of tea was thrust against her lips. The tea, tangy and bitter tasting, forced its way down her throat, and she suddenly felt more relaxed. It wasn’t long before her eyes began to feel heavy, and she struggled to keep awake.

“If you really don’t recall, the boss trapped you inside the television as one of his challenges. He let you out way too soon in my opinion. The peace and quiet was nice while it lasted!” She winced as the memory of the awful experience suddenly came back to her. And with it memories that had been long forgotten. The memory of the torn and bruised little girl, herself, came flooding back into her mind, along with other violent and tragic events in her life. All the beatings and abuse, the feeling of fear and rejection, the loss she had suffered…….what Black Hat and Flug had done to her. She slowly gazed at the bagged scientist standing by her bedside, the memory now fresh in her mind. How she had been taken off the side of the road and promised a home, only to receive much more than she expected. The image of a syringe inching close to her neck as she lay strapped to a lab table played across her vision. She could recall the weeks spent in a test tube as her body painfully mutated and her mind slowly warped to insanity, making her into what she now was. All of this she had forgotten till now.

Flug did not seem to notice her awkward stare at him as he left her bedside along with 5.0.5 and started to head out the door. She caught the sight of a syringe poking out of his pocket as he walked past, causing her to shudder. She raised her head again, now feeling very heavy along with her eyelids, as he reached the door. “And….er….why..why am I tied up?” Whatever he had put in her tea was very strong. She could barely keep herself conscious to hear his reply, though she wasn’t too tired to be annoyed by the chipperness of his tone.

“Oh, that’s just in case you went insane when you woke up. I made the cables out of the strongest material I could find in the lab. You’ll have fun trying to break out of those when you wake up again! Maybe, if you behave, I’ll let you go in a few days. Goodnight!” With that he turned out the lights and locked the door behind him. She couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer and fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

Things were not the same in the mansion after that night. Over the next few weeks, the residents of the manor began to notice a strange change in Demencia’s attitude. No longer was she the loud, annoying, and excitable girl that they loathed, but instead quiet and reserved. She kept to herself, locking herself in her room after missions and remaining there until her services were next required. The only time anyone ever saw her during leisure times was when she would slink out of her room to grab a snack from the kitchen, only to quickly dart back to her hiding spot. Sometimes she had 5.0.5 get her food so she wouldn’t have to come out of her bedroom, which greatly concerned the bear. Not a trace of heavy rock was heard from her room. Instead minor notes and slow music drifted down the hall from under her door. She even tried to avoid Flug as much as possible. He found that he no longer had to hunt Demencia down and tranquilizer her just to give her a bath. She now did it without being told, just so she wouldn’t have to confront him. Although she wasn’t necessarily scared of him, the memory of what he had done to her hurt her. Even the harsh punishments he gave her when she messed with him or his equipment she could no longer tolerate. True, she did mess with him quite a lot, and had a rough way of playing with him as well, but she didn’t think she deserved the abuse he brought upon her.

Of course, none of it was ever as bad as what Black Hat had in store for her. His punishments for a failed mission or aggravating him too much was far more severe than anything Flug had ever done to her. He would lock her up in solitary confinement with no food for a few days, turn into monstrous forms to frighten her, let Flug test some of his lethal experiments on her, beat her senseless, sometimes ripping her skin to shreds only for it to heal a few days later due to her generative lizard abilities, and much more. Sometimes he didn’t have a reason to abuse her. He simply did it for fun. Although she still loved the demonic man, she couldn’t bear to have these things done to her again, so she avoided him as well when she wasn’t working. Half the time now she was scared to death that he might barge into her room and torture her again, whether for a reason or sport she could not guess where the thought had risen from. But it haunted her day and night, like the memory of her Black Hat Challenge.

She just couldn’t take it anymore. Lying curled up underneath her bed surrounded by lizard plushies, she felt as though she were at her wits ends. At least with the sanity that she had left. Sobs began to rise up in her throat which she could not suppress no matter how hard she tried. The pain of the realization that she was being abused by Flug and Black Hat began to take a toll on her. How she wished she could go back to the way things used to be! But now that she had her memories back, she could not forget them again. And it sickened her to know that she had been abused all her life, even worse so now than at the hands of her father. She knew she couldn’t let herself be treated like this anymore. She had to do something.

She had to runaway.

That was the only solution she could think of. She needed to escape before anything worse could be done to her. Forcing herself to stop crying, she crawled out from underneath her bed with a new determination. “Yeah, I’ll just leave. They can’t treat me like this!” She cowered back as she remembered all the posters of her boss on her walls. Had he heard that? She quickly turned around in circles, peering at each one to make sure it was still just an image. None of the pictures were moving. They were all silent. But she couldn’t be too sure. With such a furry, she quickly scurried around the walls of her room, ripping each and every poster she had to shreds. Paper went flying around her room in every direction. The effort left her huffing when she was done. She had never felt such paranoia before, looking around her room surprised at all the pieces of her posters scattered about.

It was certainly time for her to leave.

* * *

She decided to leave that very night. She knew it would be too risky during the day, and she would have less of a chance getting caught at night. She couldn’t get caught, lest the punishment for such treason be very severe. She didn’t bother to pack any of her belongings. They would only slow her down. When she was sure that all the residents in the manor were fast asleep, she quietly unscrewed the covering of the vent using a screwdriver she had gotten 5.0.5 to take from Flug, and swiftly crawled into the shaft. Even though it was pitch black in the air ducts, she could still see perfectly due to her night vision. There were some perks to having lizard abilities, she had to admit. She tried to crawl through the vents as quietly as she could, not making a single sound that could wake up the others. She had done this so many times before that she was able to smoothly maneuver herself through the narrow passages.

Cool wind and the scent of the night air suddenly filled her nostrils. She was almost to the end of the tunnel. When she had reached the grate that would lead to her freedom, she carefully pushed on it with all her might till it popped off. She made sure she still had a hold of the covering so it wouldn’t fall to the ground, and gently laid it aside. Looking out, she stared at the dark ground. It was nearly a twenty feet drop, but nothing she couldn’t handle. She scooted herself to the edge of the vent and leaped off of it with excitement. This was it, her escape from her violent past. It was almost over!

But she never hit the ground. Before her feet could touch the grass, she felt two huge furry hands scoop her out of the air. Confused, she opened her eyes to see 5.0.5 cradling her in his arms. The blue bear smiled at her with delight, his stubby tail wagging. “Baw!”

“What?!” Demencia wrestled herself out of 5.0.5’s arms with ease, and quickly got to her feet. “Bear, what are you doing out here?” she whispered. What ensued what was a series of bear dialogue along with a set of charades. He kept gesturing towards the door of the house, railing off a series of angry bear grunts, and proceeded to walk forwards a feet before pretending like he was slamming the door. “So…..Black Hat kicked you out of the house because you were annoying him?” 5.0.5 happily nodded his head in response, before picking up Demencia in a hug. Looking over his shoulder, she could already see a faint light creeping up over the horizon. She wiggled around in his grasp until she could pry herself loose, much to 5.0.5’s dislike. “Look bear, I’m sorry but I’m in a hurry. I have to get out of here before everyone wakes up.” 5.0.5 gasped knowing well what that meant. He grabbed Demencia’s arm, frantically spouting out a string of “baw”s. “I really can’t stay here anymore! I’m tired of being abused. I have to leave!” She yanked her arm out of 5.0.5’s grasp and proceeded to walk off. But as she did, she noticed a large creature was following her.

“5.0.5!” She quickly turned around to see the bear behind her, smiling sheepishly. “You can’t come with me. You have to stay here!” But he only shook his head and stood his ground. She sighed, knowing full well that if she wanted to escape she would have to take him with her. Not like she could complain though. She knew 5.0.5 had been awfully worried about her, and it might be good to have some company. Rolling her eyes, and breathing out one last sigh, she smiled up at him. “Fine. Come on, and be quiet!” He happily agreed and quietly and quickly followed her to the edge of the property. She had to help him over the tall fence as he couldn’t climb over it on his own. Hoisting him up on her shoulders, she helped him get over the top of the fence and let him clamber down first before climbing over it herself. Once, on the other side, they both quickly dashed away from the sight of the mansion as fast as they could. When she could no longer see the black, top hat shaped house, she breathed a deep sigh of relief. Although she wasn’t sure where to go now, she was at least happy to be away from there.

They trecked along through the darkness as the dawn quickly approached. Demencia wanted to be as far away as possible from the mansion when sunrise hit. She knew it wouldn’t be long before Black Hat discovered her and 5.0.5’s disappearance. They quickly and quietly made their way through the surrounding neighborhood, or at least as quickly as they could with 5.0.5 trailing behind. The bear was nowhere near as quick or stealthy as Demencia was. Eventually they broke out of the darkness of the sleeping neighborhood into a world of lights. Street lights lit up the road in front of them, restaurant and store signs flashed with bright neon colors, and a few headlights from cars whizzed by them. They had made it into the city of Hatsville. Being so early in the morning, there were no people on the sidewalks yet, and barely any cars were on the road. Demencia was thankful for this for she was worried of being seen by someone, particularly heroes. “Now where to go,” she muttered to herself, looking left and right down the main rode through town. She had never been this far from the mansion before. Not without someone with her to keep an eye on her anyway. Usually on missions she was accompanied part of the time by the person that bought her services before being let loose to do her job. Never before had she gone through the city, let alone out of Hatsville, on her own. 5.0.5 was no help either as he had never been out of the city before either, except for when he would accompany Flug on business. Her thoughts were disrupted by a distinct growling sound coming from her stomach. She forgot she hadn’t eaten the whole day.

“Let’s go get some food! Then we’ll decide where to go.” 5.0.5 nodded and followed Demencia to the nearest restaurant. The closest place to them was a small retro styled diner across the street from where they stood. However, as they approached, they noticed that all the lights in the diner were turned off and a sign had been hung on the door that read in big red letters “closed”. Demencia peered closely at the sign and, ignoring it, proceeded to try and open the door. To her frustration it was locked. 5.0.5 tapped her shoulder and pointed down the street, indicating that they should try another place. “Hold on bear! Just because the place is closed doesn’t mean we can’t eat here.” 5.0.5 stared at her with a confused expression. Although he had never actually set foot in a restaurant, he was pretty sure that if the sign said closed, then you could not get in. That did not stop Demencia, however, as she thrust her foot against the door, delivering a powerful kick that sent it flying to the back of the room. 5.0.5 winced at the loud crash the door had caused as they casually walked inside. The place was completely empty, devoid of any customers or workers. Demencia felt along the wall until she came across a light switch and flipped it on. Immediately the restaurant was flooded in fluorescent lights. All the chairs had been stacked on the tables, the machinery turned off, and the kitchen completely closed off. Demencia grabbed 5.0.5’s paw and started to yank him towards the kitchen area. “Come on bear, you’re going to make us some food!” 5.0.5 hesitated, a little nervous about breaking and entering and then helping themselves to whatever was there. Demencia rolled her eyes in annoyance. “I swear, you are way too much of a goody-two-shoes. I mean, we’re villains, fives! We can take what we want, we don’t have to follow by the rules!”

“Is that so?” They both froze in place at the sound of a female voice by the door. Slowly, they turned around to see two figures standing in the doorway. One was indeed a female, with deep fiery red hair that trailed to the middle of her back. Her skin was a burned black color, her eyes as bright as embers. She wore a small red mask over her eyes that matched the rest of her outfit, a red jumpsuit with orange flame patterns around her wrists, ankles, and neck that actually seemed to be alight. Around her waist she wore a belt depicting a picture of a bird covered in flames. The man standing next her was of the opposite contrast. While his skin was also dark, it was not nearly as black as hers, but instead a deep chocolate color. He was a whole head taller than the woman yet looked to be equally built in strength, and unlike her, he wore no mask but a hood draped over his head. His short hair was a silvery white in contrast with his skin, the irises of his eyes a deep purple. Like the fiery woman, he also wore a jumpsuit but black like the night sky that seemed to shimmer in the light. His suit depicted patterns of cosmic dust, and he also wore a belt that displayed a very realistic emblem of a star. Demencia could tell they were obviously heroes, but she had never seen these two before. The woman walked a little closer into the room. “Don’t you think it’s a little early to be having breakfast? Especially when not even the waiters are here yet?” Demencia snapped herself out of her daze. She wasn’t going to let any heroes push her around.

“Hey, I can do what I want! You can’t tell me what to do!” She tried to lunge at the hero, but she quickly side stepped her, causing Demencia to be caught in the strong arms of her partner. 5.0.5 rushed to help her, only to be stopped by an unseen force being emitted from the male hero that held Demencia. She tried to struggle in his grasp but surprisingly enough, even though he was only holding her with one arm while the other was raised towards 5.0.5 emitting a kinetic hold, she could break free.

“Aren’t you two Black Hat’s henchmen?” asked the male hero. Demencia ceased her squirming, out of breath from the effort.

“Well, I was. But I don’t work for him anymore.” The woman stared at her quizzically, gesturing towards her partner to let the two go. He obliged, releasing 5.0.5 and gently setting Demencia back on her feet. She was about to try and push past the hero towards the door, but the door suddenly materialized back in its place and locked tight. The fiery hero approached her, a serious look on her face.  

“And why did you quite?” Demencia didn’t answer. Instead she stared at the ground, avoiding the hero's gazes.

“I don’t have to tell you anything. Now let me go!” Once again she tried to lunge at the woman with lightning reflexes, only to find that she couldn’t move. The man trapped her in the same telepathic hold that he had performed on 5.0.5.

“Listen, we’re not going to harm you or your friend.” His voice was very soft, filled with compassion and a sincerness that Demencia couldn’t tell if it was real or not. No one had ever spoken that way to her before. “We’re just curious. Working for the most vile villain ever to exist only to up and quit? It seems a little strange, especially for a girl of your reputation and talent.” Demencia didn’t quite like the way the hero was looking at her, the look in his eyes almost reminding of her of how she looked at Black Hat, but with a subtle softness. And when he said that last part, he sounded much too charismatic for her liking. Still, she brushed it off.

“You’ve heard of me?”

“We’ve been keeping tabs on the Black Hat Organization for a while now,” piped in the female. “And we know you were one of his most loyal members.”

“I’m going to let you go now. You can leave if you wish, or you can tell us what happened. Perhaps we can find a way to help.” The woman looked a little surprised when he said this, but nodded her head regardless. Demencia also agreed to the terms. The man released his hold on her and stepped back from the door. It clicked and unlocked itself, swinging slightly open. Demencia had half a mind to grab 5.0.5 and make a run for. Or attempt to bash the mysterious heroes’ brains in. But something in her mind told her to stay. She didn’t understand whether it was because she believed them or just wanted someone to confide in, but she felt as though she had to tell someone. Besides, ranting can be good for the soul.

With a heavy sigh, she turned away from the door and strode over to one of the cushiony boothes by the window, plopping down in the seat. “Alright, ya want the short version or the long version? Cause if you choose the long version, I am prepared to start ranting.” With polite smiles, the heroes and 5.0.5 joined her in the booth and listened to her story.

Starting with the events of her challenge, she told them all about how Black Hat had trapped her inside the television and how it had somehow triggered the return of her memories. She told them how she had been abused as a child up until she was taken in by the organization, only to be abused even worse by Black Hat and Flug. How each day would be more painful than the last. Sometimes she received more brutal punishments than others depending on what she did. Her attempts to seduce Black Hat only ended in verbal slanders and harsh beatings if she annoyed him badly enough. She even told them about the experiments Flug had done to her that made her the crazy lizard hybrid she was. The heroes listened to all she had to say with growing concern and sympathy evident within them.

The male sadly shook his head. “I knew Black Hat was bad, but too treat his own employees like garbage….”

“But I still love him!” Demencia blurted out. The heroes looked at her in shock. “I...I don’t know why, but I love him. A lot.”

“Well it sounds like to me that he’s not exactly fond of you,” observed the female.

“No. No, I guess he’s not.” Demencia’s gaze fell to the table in front of her. She could feel 5.0.5’s paw on her back, attempting to comfort her. She sniffed, trying to push back tears, and nuzzled his soft fur with her hand. “I thought maybe he was playing hard to get.” Her laugh was weak and pitiful. “I guess I was wrong. He doesn’t love me.”

Without warning, the cosmic looking hero reached over and gently took both her hands in his. “If you worked for me, I would never treat you like that.” Demencia froze with shock, unsure of what to do. “You’re too special to be treated so inhumanly.” His partner jabbed him in side, giving him a stern glare. He quickly dropped her hands and turned away, a light blush on his face.

“What he is trying to say is we don’t think anyone should be treated so harshly, regardless if they are a hero or a villain. We’d like to offer you a job working for us. We could properly train you be a magnificent hero, and you would be get free room and board along with meals and leisure time.” Demencia couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Even 5.0.5 seemed a little surprised. To work as a hero? Since working for Black Hat, she had learned to despise heroes, that they were the bad guys. She always thought she had so much fun wrecking havoc and causing chaos. She wasn’t sure she could give that up. “It’s not that hard to be good,” the female added. “And if you ask me, it’s a lot more fun and rewarding than being bad. Will you be willing to give it a try?”

“I...I don’t know.”

“Then will you at least stay and chat for a bit? Get to know each other?” She snapped her head up at the male upon his request. He had such a pleading look in his eyes that she couldn’t quite seem to resist staying. Besides, they had been so nice to her. Maybe they could be trusted. She nodded her head in agreement, and together they all sat down and chatted pleasantly for a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is always appreciated!


	2. Chapter 2

The morning came much too quickly for his liking. Dr. Flug was sleeping soundly for the first time in two weeks until he was rudely woken by the blaring wail of his alarm clock. Tossing his sky blue blankets aside, he quickly jumped out of bed and slammed his hand down on the off bottom on his clock, silencing it’s screams. The time was much too early as he noted. Six in the morning. He yawned as he groggily pulled open the drawer of his nightstand, revealing a paper bag and a set of goggles. He never started his day without them. He quickly shoved the bag onto his head and pulled the goggles down over his eyes before slowly crawling out of bed to open the curtains of his room. A blinding ray of sunlight hit him straight in the face as soon as he drew them back, causing him to squint and quickly draw the curtains shut, plunging his room back into darkness. It was much too bright out for this early in the morning. Stumbling his way across the dark room, he eventually found the light switch after stubbing his toes about a dozen times on the furniture and other machinery strewn about the floor, and flipped it on. The room was bathed in a warm, soft light, not too bright for his tired eyes. He stretched and yawned once more before getting ready for a busy day ahead of him. After all, today he had to meet a deadline according to his calendar. But then again, he had a deadline almost every day.  

He pulled off his airplane pajamas in favor of his usual outfit: a blue t-shirt with a crashed plane logo on it, a pair of jeans, a white lab coat, and a pair of red sneakers. He decided he would put on his gloves when he was actually ready to work. The next step was to go to the kitchen and make himself a large cup of coffee. The man practically survived on the stuff, running off of it like a plane runs on fuel. Usually he would briskly walk to the kitchen, quickly make his coffee, then rush to the lab to work on whatever project was due that day. But today, as it had been for the past couple weeks, he found himself casually walking to the kitchen, whistling a tune as he went. He had been in a lot better mood as of late due to the fact that Demencia had suddenly stopped pestering him. Ever since the “incident”, he noticed she had been a lot more quiet and reserved. She would avoid him and his lab whenever possible, and had stopped playing tricks on him and 5.0.5. Although her behavior was more than a tad suspicious to him, he didn’t care. He was just glad that, with her antics out of the way, he had more time to complete his projects without the worry that she would suddenly burst in and destroy one of them.

Upon reaching the kitchen, he instinctively went to start the coffee maker and fetch one of his larger mugs. But as he was just about to reach the coffee maker, he suddenly stopped in his tracks. He noticed that something was off. Gazing around the kitchen, he looked for the source of the “off” feeling and found it immediately. 5.0.5 wasn’t there making breakfast like he usually does. Every morning when Flug comes to get his coffee, 5.0.5 would be standing at the stove with his apron and chef hat on, making breakfast for the crew. He always insisted that Flug eat something, but he usually refused, grabbing his coffee and rushing off to his lab before 5.0.5 could insist anymore. But that morning he was nowhere to be found around the kitchen.

Flug immediately rushed to Black Hat’s office, forgetting about his coffee in the process. The normal thing to do would have been to look around the house first, in case 5.0.5 had been asked to perform a different task that morning, or had slept in. But Flug knew the bear’s habits too well, and this was certainly off for him. He suspected that Black Hat might have had something to do with it. After all, he had a strong hatred for his experiment because of how good he turned out to be. He constantly tried to get rid of 5.0.5 and even tried to kill him on a few occasions. Thankfully though 5.0.5 somehow turned out to be immortal, much to Flug’s astonishment. He was almost certain that Black Hat might have done something to him again.

He slowed down once he got near his employer’s office. It always made him nervous going in. He never knew what to expect out of his boss, or what he might be doing. Most of the time it was just the mundane task of paperwork, or scheduled consultations with other villains that required his services. Although sometimes the customers went in and never came out again, not even to be experimented on by him. It often made him wonder if he would eventually someday not come out. He didn’t think this would ever happen though. Swallowing his nervousness, he hesitantly walked up to the large and dark oak doors and, with a shaking fist, knocked on the wood. He jumped back, expecting the doors to swing open like they usually do, but they remained shut, not even opening an inch. Flug cocked his head in surprise. He stood there for a few minutes, looking around nervously, before slowly approaching the doors again and knocked with a little more confidence. Stepping back, he waited for the doors to open. Once again, they remained closed and quiet. Curious, Flug pressed his ear up against the door, trying to make out any noise inside. He couldn’t hear anything except for dead silence. Taking a deep breath, and mustering up a lot of courage, he reached out, grasped the door knob, and slowly opened the door. The creaking of its hinges sounded very eery in the quiet mansion. Flug poked his head in the door, greeted by a dark room. All the lights were off and the room was deathly quiet.

“Je...jefe?” Flug whispered into the darkness. He waited for a response. “Boss? Are you in here?” Only silence answered him. He waited a couple more seconds before pulling his head back out and shutting the door. “Well that’s odd.” Black Hat was always in his office at this time, as far as Flug knew. He knew his boss to be a very early riser, if he even slept at all. The eldritch being didn’t necessarily need to sleep, but occasionally he choose to for reasons unknown to the rest of them. Although Flug didn’t like the idea, he thought of checking Black Hat’s bedroom to see if he happened to be in there. That was the only other place he could think of him being unless he wasn’t in the house at all. Ignoring any thoughts screaming at him not to, he slowly made his way down the long corridor to his master’s room. He hated walking down this end of the hall. Many pictures of the demon hung on the wall, the eyes of the portraits seeming to follow his every movement. He could of swore he kept seeing movement from the pictures, and shadows slithering along the walls. But everytime he looked there would only be stillness from the lifeless paintings. Walking a little faster, he quickly made his way down the creepy hall toward an oddly hat shaped door. His legs started to wobble as he inched closer to the door. Although he knew where the room was at, he had never dared entered. But this time was different. If Black Hat had done something to 5.0.5 he needed to know. Instead of knocking, and before any second thoughts could come to mind, he snatched the door knob with a quacking arm and slowly opened the door.

The room inside was pitch black except for what little light in the hallway creeped inside. Even though it was dim, he could make out a figure laying on the elegant, victorian style wooden bed that stood in the center of the room, sound asleep. “Sir?” Flug whispered from the doorway. He waited to see if he would respond, but he didn’t even stir. Flug had a feeling this was a bad idea, but with all the courage he could summon, he slowly inched one foot inside the demon’s room. He looked up to make sure he was still asleep, and once he was reassured, set the other foot across the doorway. Step by cautious step, he made his way across the room. He couldn’t help but look around the room as he had never been in there before. From the illumination of the light in the hallway, he could make out red wallpaper with black top hat patterns covering the walls, along with a couple more portraits. A black ebony wardrobe stood against one of the walls, with a tall mirror adjacent to it. There was also a dresser with a couple picture frames and a record player sitting on top of it, and beside his bed stood a nightstand on which lay his precious top hat.

After feeling like he had been walking across the room for hours, Flug finally made it to Black Hat’s beside. He stared down at the sleeping figure in the bed, his entire body masked by the heavy looking black blanket lying on top of him. He started to have second thoughts about what he was about to do, but pushed those out of his mind. “S...sir?” His voice was barely above a whisper and sounded shaky. “Are you awake?” When he didn’t wake up, let alone even move, Flug decided to try something a little more drastic. Cautiously, he reached out his arm to shake his boss awake. He hadn’t even touched the blanket before a cold hand shot out from underneath the covers and grabbed his throat with such strength that all breath left him immediately. Flug clawed at the hand, trying to remove it from his throat but it wouldn’t budge. Suddenly the covers were thrown back as Black Hat shot up in bed, looking more than a little displeased as his only visible eye glowed a menacing red and his fangs were bared. Despite his terror, and the fact that he couldn’t breathe, Flug’s eyes widened in surprise at the sight of his boss in pajamas. He had never seen him in any other outfit besides his suit before. He wore a black silk button up nightshirt and black silk pants with red top hats covering them. His hands and feet were bare, but he still wore his monocle over his left eye. Replacing his top hat was a black night cap.

“I thought I told you to stay out!” he growled lowly at his employee. Flug attempted to squeak out a response, but the hand around his throat prohibited him from getting any air into his lungs. All he could do was weakly try and pull the hand away, black spots beginning to dance across his vision. Sighing in an annoyed fashion, Black Hat relinquished his hold on the weak scientist. Upon being released, Flug fell to the red carpeted floor on his knees, gasping for air. Black Hat rolled his eye at the pathetic display on his floor, looking down at Flug with disdain. “You better have a good excuse, doctor, for intruding upon my quarters!” He wasn’t able to answer until the coughs and wheezing had subsided, but even then his throat still ached.

“S...sir, I...I….5.0.5 wasn’t in the kitchen th...this morning.” No response. Only a cold stare that looked as if it could kill. “He...he normally is.”

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. A hand slid down his face in frustration. “You mean to tell me that you barged in here and woke me on the account of that pathetic creature?!” Flug couldn’t help but wince at harsh tone of his voice. This had certainly been a bad idea.

“N...no sir. I mean, yes! I mean….I was just wondering if you know where he is at.”

Black Hat rolled his eye again. “You’ll find him outside in the yard.”

At this, Flug immediately jumped up from his spot on the floor. “What?! Has he been out there all night?”

“Oh please, don’t act so pathetic!” he snapped at the scientist. “Yes, I tossed him out there on the account that he was sleep walking in my room last night.” Flug didn’t need to hear anymore. Without getting permission to leave, he ran out of his boss’ bedroom and to the front door of the manor. Swinging it up open, he stepped outside on the porch and scanned the yard. There was nothing out there except for a couple birds that had just landed in the grass. Although they were only there for a second before a laser sprang up from the ground and incinerated them. Before he started panicking, Flug walked around the side of the house to the back to see if 5.0.5 had wandered back there. But when he peered around the house, there was no one back there. Now he was starting to panic.

He ran as quickly as he could back inside the house and down to his lab. He didn’t know why he hadn’t tried this before, but he decided to check the security cameras to see if 5.0.5 was in any other part of the house. He fast walked across his lab until he came to a door near the back. There was a key pad on the outside of the door. He rapidly typed in the code and the door clicked and swung open, allowing Flug to slip into the room. Three of the walls in the room were covered with televisions, each displaying a different room or part of the house. The other wall was crowded with audio and recording equipment. He sat down at a large keyboard in front of the main, larger television screen on the wall and began looking at the footage of each room. Every room he looked into, however, was empty except for Black Hat’s room where Flug discovered the demon had gone back to bed. Not too strange though since Flug had noticed throughout the past few weeks that Black Hat slept more often and later than what he used to. But that was quickly gone from Flug’s mind once the footage of Demencia’s room came up. Like the other rooms, her room was empty. He gasped when he caught sight of the open vent in the corner of her room, the cover lying just underneath it. And along with 5.0.5, he hadn’t seen her in any other part of the house.

He rushed out of the security room right back to Black Hat’s room as fast as his skinny legs would carry him. Although he wasn’t too upset or concerned at the fact that Demencia was missing, he knew the boss would be furious. The only thing he cared about was that she probably kidnapped 5.0.5. He didn’t even hesitate this time as he burst into the room. Before a sound could escape his lips, however, a black shadowy tendril shot up from the floor and tightly wrapped itself around him. He felt the overwhelming need to cower back as Black Hat approached him, still clad in his pajamas and still looking as angry as before. If not a little more so. “I swear, Flug, you are asking for…”

“Demencia’sgonetoo!” The words tumbled out of Flug’s mouth. Black Hat froze on the spot, his claws inches away from Flug’s face.

“What did you say?”

Flug gulped nervously, not sure whether he was going to make it out of this alive or not. “Sir, Demencia and 5.0.5 are both missing. When I checked her room, the vent was open and she’s nowhere to be found. I think she ran away and took 5.0.5 with her.” How Flug wished he could get away at that moment as he watched Black Hat’s face contort into pure rage.

“WHAT?!” The tendril holding Flug slammed him hard into the wall before disappearing into thin air. He slid off the wall and collapsed onto the floor, his back severely aching from the impact. Black Hat snapped his fingers, transfiguring his night clothes into his usual business attire, the hat that was on his dresser suddenly appearing on his head. He slowly strode over to the spot where Flug was lying on the floor and stood in front of him. “Get up!” he demanded. Flug tried to do just that, but the pain in his back would not allow him to. The most he could do was tilt his head up a little, only far enough to look at his shoes. With a wave of his hand, the shadow from under his feet sprang up into his fist and materialized into a solid black cane. Black Hat hooked the head of the cane around the scientist’s throat and yanked him hard to his feet. The sudden movement was extremely painful for Flug. He tried to stretch his back muscles while rubbing at his sore neck. But Black Hat snatched the collar of his shirt, yanking him close to look him in the eye. “Find her. Now!” Flug was thrown back against the wall again, but he knew better this time than to show his pain.

“Y...yes sir!” Fishing around in his lab coat’s pocket, he pulled out a device that resembled a tablet with the Black Hat Org. logo on the back. He had almost completely forgotten about the tracker anklet Black Hat had him put on her. He pressed a few buttons and was able to pull up a page of information on her, including her whereabouts. “She’s...oh! She’s just downtown!” Black Hat snatched the device from his hands and peered at the screen. Sure enough, a map of Hatsville was pulled up on the screen with a red dot indicating where Demencia was. Without saying a word, he threw the tablet back at Flug before proceeding to walk out of the room. Flug quickly followed him.

“Sir, please allow me to accompany you. In case 5.0.5 is with her.”

It annoyed him how much Flug loved that failed experiment. “I suppose,” he huffed, not even looking at his employee.

“Thank you, sir! I’ll go start the car!” He was about to run off to grab the car keys, when Black Hat grabbed his arm, stopping him in his tracks.

“Actually Flug, I’m going to drive.” With a snap of his fingers, the car keys magically appeared in his hand. Flug suddenly felt very afraid for his life.

* * *

Demencia hadn’t even realized that it had been hours since she left the manor. When sunrise hit she was still sitting at the booth in the small diner her and 5.0.5 had broken into, happily chatting with the two heroes who had originally planned to stop her. Through hours of conversation, she learned a lot about the mysterious pair. They were actually heroes from a few towns over. The female hero’s name was Phoenix, both her real name and her hero name. And the man with her turned out to be an adopted brother known as Stareye. He had lived his whole life in an orphanage, never knowing who his real family was. At the age of 14, he was adopted by Phoenix’s family, unaware that he had powers like her at the time. When the pair heard about the all powerful Black Hat and how no hero had ever been able to stop him, let alone dare to cross his path anymore, they immediately started investigating. Demencia was surprised at how much they were able to pick up on the organization. Thanks to a group of agents they had found, they were able to uncover some of the organization’s secrets, as well as information on Black Hat and all his employees, including herself. Their goal was to be able to stop Black Hat themselves. Not like Demencia actually thought they stood any of a chance, but she refrained herself from scoffing at the lunicrace idea.

“You know, we could really use someone like you,” Stareye said to Demencia. “Someone who’s actually been on the inside, working close by him. You must know all kinds of information!”

“Well, yeah…” Demencia averted her gaze from the hero, looking off to the side. She wasn’t sure she felt comfortable exploiting information about the organization, even if they did treat her horribly, and she technically had quite. She was snapped out of her doubts when she felt a hand grab her chin. Stareye gently held her chin in his hand, moving her head back to look at him.

“Demencia, a woman of your merit and talent deserves so much more than what that villain can give you. Or more like hasn’t given you. I understand how special you are, the potential you posses. Will you join us?” A bright blush crept across her face. She had never had anyone talk like that to her before. Certainly not Black Hat, whom she had loved and adored. She couldn’t help but think that perhaps she should. Perhaps it would be best for her to join them and become a hero. At least then she wouldn’t be abused anymore, and perhaps she could still cause a little bit of destruction.

She was about to give her answer when a black car crashed through the front of the building, skidding to a stop right by their booth. They all stared in shock and confusion as the smoke and debris around the building settled. Once everything had settled down, a skinny man wearing a paper bag on his head and a lab coat jumped out of the vehicle and immediately ran to 5.0.5. “5.0.5, thank God you’re ok!” Flug launched himself onto the bear in a hug. 5.0.5 happily wagged his stubby tail and gave his creator a hug back. “I was so worried about you!” As soon as he caught sight of the lizard lady sitting next to him, he separated himself from the bear and glared at her, arms sternly crossed. “Demencia, what were you thinking?! Kidnapping 5.0.5?!” Demencia couldn’t say a word, too shocked at this turn in events. The two heroes sitting across from her were equally as shocked, especially since they knew who the bagged was. What concerned them most was that he got out on the passenger side of the car. If he wasn’t the one driving….

All of them snapped their attention towards the vehicle as the car door suddenly flew open. And out of the vehicle stepped out none other than Black Hat. As soon as they saw him, the heroes were on their feet, ready for a fight. But the demon ignored them as he strode over towards Demencia, looking very displeased yet somehow calm about the whole situation. “That was a foolish move, attempting to escape me,” he bluntly told her. Demencia could only stare up at him in shock.

“How did you find me?” She didn’t think she left behind any trail for him to follow. She jumped a little when Flug lightly kicked her left leg.

“You have a tracking device on you. Remember?” With a feeling of stupidity, she looked down at her leg to see the metal band that had been placed there the first day she started working for the organization. She felt like hitting her head against the table. How could she have possibly forgotten about that? Still with an air of superiority, Black Hat grabbed her by the wrist and started to pull her towards the car.

“I assure you, you will be punished severely for this transgression, you idiotic girl.” That snapped her out of it. She pulled her arm out of his grasp, stepping away from him with air of defiance. Black Hat turned around towards her, growling with anger.

“What is the meaning of this?”

“I...I’m not going back!” Demencia almost gasped at herself when she said that, surprised that the words even came from her at all. Black Hat was equally surprised that any creature had the audacity to defy him.

“Excuse me?!”

With a deep breath, she raised her chin and looked him straight in the eye. “That’s right, I don’t want to go with you. I’m...I’m tired of being hurt!” Black Hat couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He wanted to scream at her, tear her throat out, do something to make her pay what she just said to him. But instead he just stood there, mouth hanging slightly open in utter confusion. Even Flug was hopelessly lost on what was happening. It was not like Demencia at all to act like this. With a new found confidence at the sight of their confused looks, she marched over by Phoenix and Stareye and stood at their side. “I want to stay with my friends.” As if a switch had been flipped, Black Hat was able to snap out of his confused state, pure rage taking hold of him. A black tendril creeped out of his body and grabbed Demencia around the waist, yanking her towards him much to her and the heroes’ surprise. He pulled her in until her face was a mere few inches away from his.

“You will do no such thing! I will NOT allow you to join some bloody heroes!”

“Let her go!” Phoenix couldn’t stop him in time before Stareye lunged at Black Hat. A purple saw of energy encased his hand, and he brought it down upon the tentacle. The energy blade was able to cut through it like a hot knife through butter. Black Hat wheeled back in pain and shock, the tentacle retracting into his body to be healed. A hero had actually dared to attack him. Stareye took Demencia away, out of reach of the demon. Both heroes stood in front of her like a barrier as Black Hat slowly walked towards them, his visible eye glowing a dark red with absolute fury. Flug swiftly ushered 5.0.5 towards the car, knowing full well what was about to happen.

“How. Dare. You!” Multiple shadow tentacles emerged from his body and swiftly moved towards the heroes with blinding speed. Phoenix was able to quickly set up a shield of fire around herself, burning the tendrils that touched it, while Stareye used his energy blade to cut more of them down. Black Hat hissed with pain as he retracted the injured tentacles. Phoenix then took the opportunity to make a close combat move. She quickly moved towards Black Hat, wings of fire blazing on her arms. She tried to take a swipe at him with her fiery wings, but he was able to sidestep it, instead hitting her square in the back with his laser eye. She fell on her knees in pain, her back charred where he had hit her. Stareye came to her rescue. While Black Hat’s back was turned, he unleashed a cosmic bolt from his hands, hitting the demon full blast in the back. He staggered forward a bit from the hit, but to Stareye’s surprise it didn’t seem to phase him too much. The eldritch wheeled towards him, a low and menacing growl emitting from his throat.

“Why you pathetic fool!” Snapping his fingers, green flames engulfed his hands. Even while standing a few away, Stareye could feel the intense heat radiating from the flames. Streams of green fire shot of his hands towards Stareye. Thankfully the hero had good time reflexes to instantly throw up a psychic shield around himself. It amazed him that, even with the shield, he could still feel the searing heat of the flames. Beads of sweat poured down his face as his energy slowly started to fade. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep the shield up. Suddenly a rope of fire wrapped itself around the demon’s torso, pinning his arms to his sides. The flames were immediately extinguished, much to Stareye’s relief. Black Hat struggled against Phoenix’s fiery laso, the bindings very tight yet did not burn.  She laughed a little at his struggles.

“How does it feel to be on the other end of the rope, Mr. Black Hat?” As soon as the taunt was let loose from her mouth, Black Hat whirled with great speed and landed a swift kick to the side of her head. The force threw her across the room where she crashed into the wall, sending plaster and bits of the wall crashing down on her. Black Hat tried to advance on her only to be stopped in his tracks. Every muscle in his body seemed to freeze up, being held fast by some unseen force. He tried to move, but his body wouldn’t obey him.

“That’s enough, Black Hat.” Stareye calmly stepped into view, his hand extended towards the eldritch as he held him in place with his mind. “Demencia is coming with us.” But this only increased his anger.

“She’s not yours to take!” A giant shadowy hand suddenly shot up from the ground, grabbing Stareye along with another one grabbing Phoenix. Stareye lost focus on his telekinesis, releasing Black Hat from his hold. “Both of you insolent heroes are going to pay for this!” He tightened his fists, and as he did the shadow hands did the same, slowly squeezing the life out of the heroes. They screamed as the hands kept tightening their hold on them. Usually Demencia enjoyed the screams of heroes, but these were her friends. She couldn’t just stand around and watch them die. She ran up to Black Hat using her lizard speed and launched herself onto his back, knocking him to the ground.

“Leave them alone!” she demanded with a fury that surprised even her. Never before had she talked to him that way, always silently letting him do whatever he wanted, including towards her. She tried to pin him down but he was easily able to push her off of him. She was sent flying backwards where she crashed into one of the tables. Black Hat stood up and dusted himself off before approaching the lizard girl. Her head and back ached from the impact, and she lie there as her boss loomed over her.

“You should have known better than to defy me.” He quickly bent down and grabbed her tightly by the arm, dragging her towards the car. She tried to struggle in his grasp but his hold on her was too tight, so tight that she felt like her arm would snap. When they neared the car, he used his own telekinesis to open the car door and threw her into the back of the vehicle with Flug and 5.0.5. She tried to leap out but the door shut fast behind her, locking itself so she couldn’t escape. Black Hat then got into the driver seat and started the ignition. Demencia was determined not to let him win so easily. As he was about to step on the gas pedal, Demencia flung herself towards him, trying to get a hold of the key. Without even looking, he grabbed her by the face as she reached over him and flung her back into the seat. “Flug, sedate her.” Flug nodded his head and took out a syringe filled with clear liquid from his coat pocket. At the sight of the needle, Demencia desperately tried to open the car door but it refused to open. Flug reached over and stabbed her in the arm, the clear fluids emptying into her veins. She instantly began to feel extremely sleepy and weak, and fell back into 5.0.5’s arms, completely unconscious. With a huff, Black Hat wheeled the car around and sped off from the diner. Only when he was gone did the shadow hands release the heroes. They both stood in the doorway, gazing in the direction the car sped off in.

“It sure is a shame,” muttered Stareye. He felt a comforting hand on his shoulder and looked down to see Phoenix smugly smiling at him.

“You always did have a thing for the crazy ones.” He laughed and shrugged her hand off.

“What can I say? Opposites attract.” They both turned around to leave the scene, until they saw an older lady standing at the back door of the restaurant. Her mouth hung open in surprise, eyes wide at the sight of her damaged diner. Stareye and Phoenix nervously exchanged glances.

“Um, we can explain.”

* * *

Over the next week, Demencia’s condition worsened even more than what it had before. She never came out of her bedroom anymore, not even to eat. 5.0.5 tried several times to bring her food. He brought her some of her favorite meals, wonderfully prepared insects, rare steak, and other things that she usually loved to eat, but she refused to eat even a nibble of them. She absolutely refused to bathe or even brush her hair, not even letting 5.0.5 do that for her. She hadn’t slept in a few days, although the fatigue was starting to catch up to her. She had even started to refuse going on missions. Black Hat had to literally beat her just to get her to comply, and even then she still put up a good fight. It took to the point where she was almost a complete bloody pulp just for her to relent, and by then she had to wait to heal before completing her assignment. Her behavior excessively worried 5.0.5, and it was even starting to worry Flug to. He was pretty sure Demencia was going to kill herself at this rate if she didn’t start taking care of herself.

Black Hat was particularly puzzled by this drastic change in Demencia’s character. He had never seen this side of her before. Always so loud and obnoxious, always trying some crazy ploy to buy his affection, only now an empty husk of that wild girl. Although he didn’t feel like he particularly missed that side of her, this new one was getting on his nerves even more than the old one did. His business was suffering on her end because of it, and like Flug, he was certain she was going to starve herself or find some other way to kill herself eventually. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t figure out what made her snap. All he knew was that she had been acting strange ever since he trapped her inside the television. The memory of her courageous stand against him still unnerved him. Not only did she suddenly have the guts to defy him, but she was protecting heroes nonetheless! He couldn’t even begin to think of what compelled her to commit that heinous act. Surely it wasn’t the way he treated her. He remembered beating her dozens of times and never once had she said a word towards him. No matter what he did to her, she always had that stupid smile on her face, hearts seeming to dance in her eyes. Sometimes she even asked for more!

All these thoughts were distracting him as he sat as his desk, attempting to complete some paperwork he was working on to no avail. His mind was too busy with thoughts. He looked at the clock and inwardly groaned. It was three o’clock in the morning and he still had a couple stacks of documents left to sign. His thoughts, however, stayed with Demencia. Eventually he gave up doing paperwork and threw down his quill pen on the desk in frustration. As much as he wanted to know what was going on with Demencia, in order to get back his good employee of course, he knew she was going to speak with him. Though perhaps there were other ways of finding out. Having an idea in mind, he strolled out of his office and towards her bedroom. He approached the door with quiet steps, not knowing whether she was asleep or awake. Quietly, he opened the door and peered inside her room. The lights were still on, but he found her curled up in her hair in the middle of the floor, fast asleep. She had finally passed out from fatigue. Being careful not to make a sound, he walked inside of her room and knelt down beside her on the floor. The look on her tired face was so peaceful, so tranquil as she slept. He couldn’t help but just stare for a few minutes at her resting form.

Why was he having these thoughts?!

He mentally shoved the thoughts from his head and prepared himself for what he was about to do. It had been a while since he had done this, but he certainly wasn’t out practice. Closing his eyes, he began to recite strange words in a demonic sounding language. As he did so, he gently placed his hand on Demencia’s forehead. His hand started to glow a light blue color. Within minutes, a fuzzy image started to form in the air above her head. Black Hat opened his eyes, only to find that he couldn’t see anything within the image of her mind. He had to switch back and forth a bit between the layers of her mind, much like flipping the channels on a television, before he finally caught sight of an image of a little girl. With the long pink hair and the mismatched colored eyes, he could tell the child was obviously a younger version of herself. Using his other hand, he tapped the image his index finger and it began to play like a video. He watched as the girl was playing outside with a few other children, covered from head to toe in dirt and mud. He was surprised by the fact that she actually seemed like a normal little kid, happily laughing and playing with the other children. The image was suddenly cut out and was replaced by the image of a drunken man. The man had a hold of Demencia, and was beating her senselessly with a leather belt. Another one showed her dad beating her on the back with a stick. Several other images like this appeared on the screen, all depicting different times she was beaten or hurt by her father. The only one that stood out was the image of a grown woman with short pink hair. She looked to be arguing with the father, slapping him across the face every now and then as he waved a beer bottle over his head, screaming profanities at her. Suddenly the bottle came crashing down on her head and she fell to the ground, unmoving. The next image to appear was that of a coffin.

The memories flickered out as Demencia started to stir from her sleep. Black Hat quickly teleported back to his office before she could wake up and discover that he was in her bedroom. That would have been hard to explain. He stood there in the middle of his office for a couple minutes before sitting back down at his desk, trying to contemplate what he had just witnessed. He had never seen those memories of hers before. He had made sure after the experiment that her mind was a clean slate, but somehow she had gotten these memories back. He never knew she had been abused so harshly as a child, though not as harshly as the torture he inflicted upon her. It made him wonder if that was the reason why she was now acting the way she was. Although he didn’t often understand humans and the way they worked, he assumed it was. How he was to bring her back to normal, or at least his definition of her being normal, he hadn’t a clue. The clock in his office loudly tolled four in the morning, reminding him that the night was waning and he still had work to do. He would think of a solution later. For now, he picked up his quill pen and resumed the mountain of paperwork he still had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is appreciated!


	3. Chapter 3

It was awfully quiet the next morning. Although it had been that way for a while now, ever since the incident which Black Hat now had deep regrets about. If he had known it would cause those memories to stir in her mind, he would never have done it. Black Hat walked up and down the halls of the manor, cane thumping against the floor. Just that little tap of the cane seemed to oddly comfort him. It had been so quiet for a long time. No yelling and screaming, no broken expensive objects, no explosions from the lab, no arguing, no running up and down the halls. The lack of commotion and distraction had been great for a while, but over the last couple weeks he had started to become bored of it. He couldn’t have been so idiotic as to actually want that lifestyle back. This is what he has wanted ever since he hired the idiots, peace and quiet. He had much more time to do his work, and commercials for his products ran a lot more smoothly with nary a mistake. But if he wanted to be honest with himself, he would have admitted that it was too easy. He didn’t quite understand it, but he found himself actually wanting the old ways back. Yes, it was frustrating and aggravating at times, but it was a challenge. If he had wanted easy, he would still be in the field fighting heroes and taking over the world.

His thoughts were disrupted when he realized he was at Demencia’s door. He had unconsciously walked there without even realizing it. Curiously, he listened outside the door for any sort of noise in the room. It had been extremely quiet in there all morning. When he didn’t hear a sound, he thought perhaps she was still asleep. Demencia did sometimes sleep in late. Very late at times. He was just about to walk off towards Flug’s lab to check on the scientist’s progress that morning, when he suddenly heard a loud bang coming from Demencia’s room. It sounded like a heavy object had been thrown to the floor. He immediately whirled around and, not caring a thing about privacy, threw open the door. Demencia had just started to crawl out the vent when she saw Black Hat standing in her doorway, a furious look on his face. She froze in place, one leg hanging outside the vent in a prepared state to crawl down the wall. Sheepishly, she smiled and waved at him.

“Morning, Hattie!” she nervously greeted him. “Uh yeah, so I can explain all this.” She yelped as a dark tendril suddenly grabbed a hold of her leg, yanking her from the vent. It swung her upside, bringing her right in front of Black Hat. Although the look in his eye suggested he was contemplating beating her on the spot,  she didn’t want to satisfy him by showing fear. Instead she put on one of her silliest grins while he glared daggers into her.

“I’d love to hear this explanation.” His voice was low and menacing, shaking on the edge of control and blind anger. Demencia pretended as if she hadn’t noticed how mad the demon actually was and continued to play it off.

“Well, I was out all morning with my friends. Ya know, hanging out, grabbing a bite to eat, all the fun stuff!”

“Your…. _friends_?” The growl in his tone was even more apparent. She could practically see his body quivering from rage. Resisting the urge to shrink back from him, she tried to act as if the whole thing was no big deal.

“Yeah, the two heroes I met about a week ago. It’s been a while since I last saw them, so I decided we should hang out and catch up. Hey, did you know they rebuilt the diner?” She didn’t have time to register the mistake she just made as the tendril suddenly slammed her against the wall, creating a giant hole in it, before dissipating. She groaned as she crawled out of the hole, coughing up plaster, and collapsed to the floor.  Her head was spinning and every bone in her body ached. Heavy footsteps approached her, and she weakly looked up to see Black Hat glaring down at her, practically foaming from the mouth in utter fury. He roughly grabbed her by the throat and yanked her up towards him, sending a wave of pain travelling down her spine.

“I thought I made it very clear I did not want you associating with those filthy heroes!” he roared. She shivered as she remembered her punishment. The scars could still be clearly seen on her arms and legs from where his claws had sank deeply into her flesh. She was sure they would never heal. But even after everything he had done to her, she was still determined to stay strong against him.

“You...you can’t tell me who I can or can’t hang out with! I’ll keep seeing them as long as I want! Unlike you, they’re actually nice to me!” She screwed her eyes shut, certain that she was about to meet death at that moment. But the pain never came. Black Hat threw her back against the ground and stomped out of her room, too angry to say a word. Demencia blinked in surprise, at a loss for words herself. It was only after she was sure he was gone did she feel like it was safe for her to get up. She struggled to pick herself up off the floor. Every bone in her back felt like it was broken. She managed to stagger to her feet though and proceeded to faceplant into her bed, squirming underneath her covers. She still couldn’t believe what had just happened. She had just stood up to Black Hat and lived.

* * *

She lived by her word. Everyday at the same hour in the afternoon, Black Hat would find Demencia missing from the manor. No matter how many precautions he took to make sure she did not escape, she still found a way out. And he was certain who she was with. The idea absolutely sickened him. To think, one of his employees, his most loyal one at that, associating with heroes and calling them friends! The thought was enough to make him want to rip her heart out of her chest. But he never did. He had completely stopped punishing her altogether. As much as he hated to admit it, she was no longer afraid of. No matter how many threats he made, how many lashings he took out on her, she continued to hold her ground with a deadpan serious look on her face. Originally she had always had a smile, even if the pain became too great for her. And it had always baffled him when she would sometimes ask for more. But now she took every threat and beating with silent indignation. He saw it pointless to waste the energy on her when it would do him no good. She no longer feared him. She no longer adored him either, something he didn’t realize he would miss.

To cope with his thoughts, and these weird feelings he was having, he decided to take a drive around town in an attempt to clear his mind. Many people that saw him go by were shocked that he was actually obeying the traffic laws. The drive seemed to be helping him clear his head a bit, until he mistakenly drove past the diner. He happened to look off to the side and saw Demencia sitting inside. Curious, he stopped the car right outside, despite the silent complaints of the other cars now trying to pass behind him. Sure enough, she was sitting at a booth with the hero duo, excitedly chatting with them. Black Hat grimaced at the scene. He had to strongly resist the urge to stomp in there, destroy the heroes, and drag Demencia out of there. He continued to just sit there for a few minutes, watching her closely as she interacted with them. He noticed how happy she looked, how carefree she seemed, her crazy and excitable personality starting to show again. He remembered how she use to act like that around him.

He physically slapped himself across the face. What was he doing, thinking of her like that! He was a heartless cold villain and always had been, he reminded himself. To feel this way about her was utter nonsense, complete lunacricy. He didn’t seriously miss her, he told himself. He liked her just as much, no less, than he did even Dr. Flug, and he wasn’t fond of the scientist either. He tried to reason with himself that the feeling was just imaginary until he saw a sight that tossed all reasoning out the window. He closely watched as the male hero, whom she knew as Stareye, reached across the table, gently grabbed her hand, and placed a soft kiss on it. He reeled back in complete shock. Had he seriously seen what he thought he saw? His blood began to boil as he saw him continue to caress her hand as he talked, and she didn’t even seem to mind. She continued to act causally as before, still talking happily with the enemy. That was where he drew the line. With a snap of his fingers, he caused the seat the heroes were sitting on to come alive. Monstrous features appeared on it: clawed hands reached out from its sides, two big red eyes appeared staring at the backs of the heroes, and a giant mouth filled with sharp teeth appeared underneath them. The heroes were completely unaware until Demencia gasped, wildly point at the seat. Black Hat chuckled to himself as he saw the heroes try to scramble out of the booth before the monster could eat them. He always enjoyed terrifying and torturing heroes. His laughter quickly turned into a scoff when he saw Demencia come to their rescue, pulling them out of the monster seat’s grasp when it had grabbed them. Black Hat decided the drive wasn’t helping him much at all, so he sped off for home, leaving lots of traffic accidents in his wake.

That evening when Demencia came back, Black Hat could tell she wasn’t pleased. She didn’t say a word but went straight to her room. Black Hat was in his office at the time when she walked past. He looked up from his work to confront her about being out all day with a bunch of goody-two-shoes, but was left speechless. When he looked up, Demencia shot him the meanest glare she could muster. She knew it was him who caused the incident at the diner. And Black Hat knew she was not happy. Lifting her chin up high, she marched off to her room. He could hear the door slam all the way down the hall. He tried to brush off the incident, resuming his work. She’d get over the whole thing, he was sure of that. But he knew she wouldn’t stop seeing her “friends”.  She was much too stubborn to be swayed by his tricks. He had already been busy collaborating with Dr. Flug on a way to keep her from escaping. The only thing left was to initiate the plan. But Flug had already explained to him that could take some time, much to the demon’s frustration. He’d have to try and wait it out till it was finished. He sighed in frustration.

When did things become so complicated?

* * *

The more Demencia snuck out to hang out with the heroes, the more this strange feeling started to come over Black Hat. He would find himself walking around the manor more just for the sake of thinking, and he always ended up stopping right outside Demencia’s door, not even sure on how he had gotten there. This feeling of loneliness would suddenly wash over him whenever he noticed she was gone, and wouldn’t go away until she returned. If he even thought of her his chest would tighten up and a strange sensation like butterflies swarming inside him would fill his stomach. He thought of her quite often now a days, and for reasons unknown to him. Or at least that he refused to accept. He had tried everything in his power to make these disgusting feelings go away, even going as far as to have Dr. Flug examine him to see if he was sick. But no matter what he tried the feelings kept growing inside him more and more as the days passed.

He couldn’t even find any relief in the evening hours after work. He found himself staying up late in the night to take up one of his regular hobbies, painting. Most of the portraits in the mansion were actually painted by him. It helped that he used to study artists in the early 1900s, copying and perfecting their techniques to develop self portraits of himself, most of the representing evil deeds he had done in the past. But he no longer painted portraits of himself. He would find himself instead painting pictures of a lovely lizard like women, sometimes by herself, sometimes embracing him or lying in his arms. Though the paintings would be immediately destroyed once he had finished them. He began to think that he was losing his mind. He couldn’t possibly have feelings for Demencia. Love was a sign of weakness. And after all he had no heart. He had made sure of it himself. Yet the feelings were all too familiar. That evening he was interrupted as he was painting a beautiful picture of Demencia hanging upside down from a tree, the wind blowing through her hair and the rays from the sun hitting her face at just the right angle. A sharp knock rasped against the door, and without permission, the door began to creep open. Black Hat quickly put down his paints and threw a canvas over the wet painting. He didn’t know who was coming in, but he didn’t want anyone knowing about his strange behavior.

“Jefe?” Black Hat calmly turned around to face Flug, his back to the canvas.

“I didn’t tell you to come in, doctor!” he snapped at the man. Flug took a couple steps back from him, realizing his mistake.

“M..my apologies, sir.” Reaching a hand inside his coat pocket, he fished out a small remote control with two red and green buttons on it. “The system is all set and ready for operation.” Black Hat smiled devilishly as he took the remote from Flug. “Now, to operate it, the red button will turn on the system while the green button will shut it off. I made sure the system’s operation was very easy to work, just as you requested!” Without hesitation, Black Hat pressed the red button on the remote. A whirring sound could be heard throughout the manor for a second before it quickly died off, leaving nothing but silence once more. He frowned, growing impatient as he waited for something to happen.

“Well, did it work?” Seeing his boss’s impatience, he vigorously nodded his head.

“Yes sir, the device had been activated. Now all you have to do is wait till tomorrow for Demencia to try and leave the building.”

“Perfect!” shouted the demon with glee. He waved at hand at his scientist. “You are dismissed now, Flug.” Flug cordially bowed before taking off out the door. Black Hat couldn’t help but feel proud with himself. The electric fence was a wonderful idea! The system was tied into the device on her ankle. As soon as she tried to leave the house, the security system would give her a good jolt of electricity, ultimately preventing her from leaving. Although she would most likely hate him for this, at least it would prevent her from seeing those heroes. Once he was sure he was not going to be disrupted again, he gently lifted the cloth off the canvas and resumed his painting.

* * *

The new edition to the security system had indeed stopped her from escaping. The next morning when she tried to leave, she got the most rude wake up call of her life. The back door she tried sneaking out of suddenly shocked her, causing her to jump back inside the house, her long hair standing on end from static. It took her a few more tries until she finally realized she wasn’t going anywhere. The first feeling that came to her was anger. She thought Black Hat had done this simply because he didn’t want her paling around with some heroes. Whether it was to keep to the image of his company or force her to remain loyal, it was plainly obvious that he hated her interacting with them. But that anger and hostility soon turned to confusion when she began to notice the strange development in his own behavior.

He started keeping her close by his side. First it was with small tasks such as bringing him meals. Instead of having 5.0.5 do it, he insisted that Demencia fetch his meals for him. Much to her surprise, he would force her to sit in his office and eat with him. Or sometimes he simply had her sit in a chair beside his desk as he worked on his paperwork. He didn’t talk to her or look at her, but simply demanded that she sit there quietly while he did his work. She never went on another mission alone. Whenever her services were requested, he always insisted on accompanying her usually either to keep her from running away again or studying her fighting habits. He would even complement her, though rather plainly, on how well she had done on a mission, something he had never done before. Every now and then when he felt like going for a drive, he would drag Demencia with him on a chaotic ride through town, usually not saying a word to her the whole time. She noticed he had even stopped punishing her when she made mistakes. It all seemed very strange to her, this sudden change in Black Hat’s personality. Never before had he taken such an interest in her until recently. At first she thought his mysterious need to spend time with her was actually a punishment, a means of seeing that she didn’t escape again. But this felt like so much more than that. Deep down, she felt that something was going on, and she desperately wanted to get to the bottom of it.

In the evening, when everyone thought she had went to bed, she snuck out of her bedroom and crept down the hallway, crawling up the walls so as not to make any noise walking alone the squeaky floor. The floor always seemed to squeak when you didn’t want it to. She silently slithered along the wall, using her lizard abilities to see in the dark hallway, until she made it to Black Hat’s office. She gently let herself drop to the floor and proceeded to quietly open the door. She only pushed it open about an inch, enough for her to peer in, for fear that the door would creak on its hinges. As she peered inside, sure enough Black Hat was in there standing up in front of his desk. A tall easel stood in front of him on which sat a painting canvas. She didn’t think anything of it at first as it was normal for Black Hat to paint, especially this late at night, but when she caught a glimpse of the painting to had to press a hand hard against her mouth to keep herself from screaming. On the canvas she saw a picture of herself and Black Hat. They were standing in front of each other, their right hands locked together while the other rested on her hip and hers on his shoulder as if they were performing a dance. The picture showed her wearing a low cut black dress that came down to her knees in the front but trailed behind her in the back, while Black Hat was dressed in his normal attire apart from his coat and gloves. She didn’t have her hood on, and her hair was put up in a messy bun, her long ponytail still slithering partially behind her. The background was completely black except for the spotlight which they stood in. It was the most gorgeous painting she had ever seen, and the sight of Black Hat painting a scene like that confused her even more. Didn’t he hate her? If so, why would he paint such a lovely picture of her? She wanted to watch him finish the painting, but instead he put down his paints and brushes and draped a sheet over the painting, obscuring her from seeing any more of its loveliness. She felt disappointed at this, but upon seeing him approach the door panic filled her.

Without any thought, she quickly scaled the wall and up to the ceiling out of his view. She silently watched as he exited his office and briskly walked down the hallway, out of sight. She didn’t come down until she was sure he had gone. She knew if she were caught he would certainly change his mind about not punishing her. Taking a deep breath, she slowly walked into his office. She wanted to be in and out as quickly as possible before she was caught. The canvas by the desk once again caught her attention. She approached it and lightly dragged her fingers down the sheet that covered. How she just wanted to rip that sheet off and gaze at the gorgous picture underneath. But unfortunately, she knew she had more pressing matters to attend to. Tearing herself away from the painting, she began to search his office. She didn’t exactly know what she was searching for. She just hoped to find something that would tell her why Black Hat was acting so weird. She used her speed to get around the room rather quickly, searching all the drawers in his desk, every bookcase and behind every object on them. No matter hard she tried though, she couldn’t seem to find any evidence.

She slumped onto the floor in front of his desk in defeat, feeling like the whole mission was pointless. She had taken this great risk virtually for nothing. She should have known since she had no idea what she was looking for in the first place! She sighed and lay on her back, no longer caring if Black Hat caught her in his office or not. It was only when she looked at the underside of his desk that she noticed something peculiar. There seemed to be a small drawer located underneath the desk. Rolling over onto her stomach she reached under the desk and pulled open the secret drawer. Feeling around inside, she felt her hand brush up against a hard object. Hope was restored within her as she pulled the object out of the drawer. Holding the object close to her face, she curiously peered at what she now held in her hands. It was a very old leather bound journal tied in black cord. Never before had she seen Black Hat with this book, which only picked her curiosity more. Gingerly she untied the black cord from around the book, letting it fall to the floor. As she started to open up the book, a picture fell out of it and onto the floor. Demencia carefully picked it up and squinted at the image. A gasp of surprise escaped her lips, and she almost dropped the photo. In the photo was Black Hat….and he was with another woman. The image was black and white, and judging by the style of the dress the woman wore, set in the early 1900s. The woman was a whole head shorter than the eldritch being, her arm wrapped around his waist while his was around her shoulders. The woman, Demencia had to admit, was very beautiful. She had long black hair as far as she could tell with big, sparkling eyes. Her grin was just as evil looking as the man standing beside her. She turned the photo back and forth, checking to see if there was a name on it but none was written. Looking back to the journal, she knew her answer would be in there. Picking it up, she carefully opened it up and flipped through the aged yellow papers. The little book appeared to be a diary written by Black Hat. She skipped the first few pages, not very interested in how his business was doing at the time, until she finally came to the part about the woman.

Her name was Pearl Covett. Apparently her and Black Hat had met in 1913 when she appeared as his first customer, seeking services to assassinate an archduke in Austria, her home country. He described their first meeting as “delightful” and wrote about how he had never met a woman in all of history like her. He talked about her being a wild and crazy woman, very bold and unafraid to take what she wants. A “proper villain” he merited her. As she read on, she learned they later got into a relationship. From the context of his writing, he was deeply in love with her and all of her crazy villainous ideas. They were an unstoppable duo, wreaking havoc in every part of the globe, and she helped him grow his business to be the most successful one around. But unfortunately their fun did not last for very long. By the end of WW1, she had passed away from a serious injury due to a gunshot in the eye. He had tried to save her, but her life drained away too quickly. The journal ended there, the rest of the pages blank. Demencia almost couldn’t believe what she just read. Black Hat in love? How was that even possible?! She had been trying to get him to love her for a long time with no success. Multiple times he had said to other villains that love is showing weakness. It only gets in the way of one’s evil plans. And yet he had loved another.

“Demencia, what do you think you’re doing?!” She dropped the diary and sprang to her feet once she heard the deep, gruff voice. She didn’t dare turn around as she heard footsteps approach her. A gloved hand reached down by her feet and picked up the diary and photo. Only then did she dare turn around to look at him. To her surprise, Black Hat did not look angry as he studied the book and photo in his hands. “I see you’ve been rummaging through my stuff again,” he bluntly stated. He flicked his wrist and the book and photo vanished into thin air. “Not a big surprise anymore. Now leave before I contemplate beating you senseless for breaking into my office!” He turned his back on her, walking around his desk to his chair.

“You use to love someone.” The words immediately made him stop in his tracks. Had he heard what he thought he heard? He turned back around towards Demencia. She has a soft smile on her face, sympathy and understanding radiating off of her. “I saw the picture and read through the journal. You use to love her.” He scoffed at her and sat down at his desk.

“How pathetic. I can assure you I’ve never loved anyone. Love is a weak emotion…”

“Except for Pearl.” He stopped mid sentence, taken aback. So she really had read through his diary. He didn’t think anyone would ever find it, didn’t think anyone would ever know of his secret. Until now. Now that Demencia knew, he felt he couldn’t hide from his past any longer.

“Yes, I was in love with her,” he admitted, as much as it disgusted him to admit it. “But that was a long time ago.” He was hoping she would leave it at that, but she still went on.

“I’m sorry for your loss. I know what it’s like to lose someone you love.” Frustrated enough, he stood up from his desk and stomped over to her, towering over her.

“Listen Demencia, I don’t care about her anymore! My heart has long been dead to any feelings of love. Drop the matter and….” He didn’t have time to register what was happening before she suddenly stood on her tippy toes and pecked a small kiss on his cheek. Dumbfounded at her actions, he just stood there very still, not quite sure how to react. Normally he would have lashed out in disgust and hate, but when she had kissed him he felt a warmth flow through his cold body, tingling his skin.

“That was to say thank you for the painting.” Wait, she had seen his painting?! He was about to say something to her, when she reached up and placed a hand over his chest. A light green blush creeped up his face as she pressed her warm hand harder against his chest. “I can feel a heartbeat,” she plainly said, removing her hand from his chest. He didn’t know what to say. He placed his own hand over his chest and could feel the rhythmic beating of the organ under his skin. How that was possible, he hadn’t the slightest clue. He thought he’d gotten rid of his heart long ago. The sound of Demencia laughing snapped him out of his thoughts. “Silly, you do have a heart!” she laughed. “You just forgot how to use it.” With that she turned to leave, thinking that Black Hat was going to kill her eventually. After all, she did break into his office and snoop through his personal belongings. But to her surprise, she felt a hand pull her back. Black Hat grabbed her arm and gently yanked her back towards him till she was standing very close to him. The green blush still covered his cheeks, and she was very much shocked at the fact that he looked a little nervous.

“I want you to kiss me again,” he demanded of her. Shrugging her shoulders, Demencia reached up to place another kiss on his cheek. But she was stopped midway when he grabbed her chin. “On the lips.” She stood there for a few seconds in shock. Black Hat, the person whom she had adored for so long, was now asking her for a real kiss. It almost seemed too good to be true. “Well, are you going to do as I asked or not?” Without another second of hesitation, she jumped up at him, flinging her arms around his neck and pressed her warm lips against his cold ones. His arms snaked around her waist as he held her close to him and passionately kissed her back.

So the scars did heal.

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is always appreciated!


End file.
